Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish, northern Irish, and English : habitational name from Brackenrig in Lanarkshire, so named with northern Middle English braken ‘bracken’ (Old Norse brækni) + rigg ‘ridge’ (Old Norse hryggr), or from a similarly named place in northern England.
- Alexander Breckenridge emigrated from northern Ireland to VA in about 1738. He had many prominent descendants, most of whom spelled the name Breckinridge.